


Unwrap My Heart

by TheIfInLife



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, 1D Christmas Fest, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Harry, Canon Compliant, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:26:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28160115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIfInLife/pseuds/TheIfInLife
Summary: Harry is flabbergasted, that much is clear. He also looks emotional, understandably. A little excited shiver runs through Louis’ body because this is just the beginning.“Harry,” Louis begins as soon as the song is over. “This begins 12 Days of presents that I have planned for you. Each day you’ll get another present from me that will hopefully show you that you mean the world to me.”or, the 12 Days of Christmas: Larry Edition
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 72
Collections: 1D Christmas Fest 2020





	Unwrap My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've posted in a while. Hope y'all like it and Happy Holidays!
> 
> Here's my [Tumblr](https://larryficwriter.tumblr.com/) if you'd like to come say hi!

Louis has been planning this for months. Part of him is nervous that it’s too much, too soon. But, of course, Liam squashed those fears as soon as Louis vented to him. 

Liam had clapped him on the shoulder firmly and almost laughed as he said, “Lou, anything that you could possibly do would never be too much for Harry. He’s been ready to marry you since the stairwell days.”

And well, Louis supposes that he’s probably not wrong. He’s spent so much of his second chance with Harry reflecting back on all the mistakes he made the first time around. He was the one who messed everything up. He was the one who let Simon’s voice telling him -  _ isn’t it just too much work at this point? I mean, really, is this the relationship that you deserve? That Harry deserves?  _ \- into his brain. He let every voice of negativity in. And he broke Harry’s heart. 

Even to this day, years after, Louis’ eyes still prickle with tears when he remembers the look on Harry’s face when Louis told him that he was walking away. He remembers the way that Harry had pleaded with him, so young and determined. Louis will forever regret the day that he told Harry that it wasn’t enough. He gave up. And then he spent the next year in absolute agony, having to be close to Harry but yet, feeling so far away. But the worst was watching Harry pull himself together by himself. 

Louis will forever blame himself. And he knew as soon as he decided that he really wanted to try his hand at a solo album, that he had one chance to finally do something right. And really, Louis doesn’t even know how to write songs that don’t speak on the things that weigh heavy on his heart. This time, he leaned into every pain and discomfort. He let himself feel and it flowed out through his pen. 

When it was all put together, he made the hardest phone call of his life. He called Harry. Louis figured he owed it to him, to let Harry hear the album that he wrote about him before the public did. And as hard as the phone call was, watching Harry hear the defenseless version of him was worth it. That album, and all its pain and truth, led to two bruised hearts making their way back to each other. 

-

“Good morning, love.” Louis kisses Harry on the cheek as Harry scrolls through his fan Twitter. “Busy day today?”

Like he doesn’t already know. Louis has to hide his mischievous smile as Harry sighs and locks his phone.

“Yeah, I’ll be in the studio all day today. Album three really will be the death of me.”

“It’s amazing to me that you haven’t come up with the name yet.” Louis shakes his head. “As soon as I wrote Walls, I knew that it’d be the title song.”

“Says the guy who rewrote his songs forty times each before considering them good.” Harry sticks his tongue out. 

“Rude,” Louis’ smile deepens. “I know that your next album will be even more incredible than your last two. You keep getting better, every go around.”

“So do you.” Harry raises his eyebrows at Louis.

“I hate you.” Louis actually laughs at that. As much as he gives Harry shit for his antics, Louis wouldn’t give it up for the world. Not again. 

“I love you too.” Harry closes his eyes when he smiles. 

Louis loves him more than he could ever put into words. None of his songs, nor the plans that he has for Harry in the next twelve days could ever be enough to encompass the way that he feels about the beautiful person standing in front of him. 

He kisses Harry, hoping his thoughts and feelings are somehow conveyed just through the touch of their lips. When he pulls back, it’s just enough to mouth an  _ I love you _ against Harry’s lips. 

Harry’s ringtone breaks their moment. 

“Ugh,” Harry’s brow furrows. “I’ve got to go. But I’ll be home for dinner tonight. Love you, Lou.”

Louis barely gets a response in before Harry is answering his phone and running out the door. Oh, the life of a popstar. Louis smiles as he watches him go down their drive, feeling nothing but immense pride in the man he’s become. 

In all honesty, Louis should spend some time resting after the phenomenal live stream that he just hosted. There’s still so much work to do to tie up all the loose ends with the project. But in reality, he’s buzzing too much because he knows that he’s about to begin an incredible twelve day journey with Harry, that hopefully ends exactly as he has planned.

Oh, and the five of them are meeting today for the first time in years. 

-

Louis can’t stop his leg from shaking as he sits in his car waiting for the others to pull up. It took some crazy planning to actually pull this off. In fact, he almost scrapped the whole plan altogether. But, once again, Liam had convinced him to get over himself and call Zayn. Which, of course, led to the two of them sitting down for coffee. Things weren’t perfect, but the history between them runs deep. They will always have that. 

Louis, of course, had already nonchalantly gotten Harry’s thoughts on the five of them hanging out as a group before planning this surprise. So, when the four of them discreetly make their way into the studio, Louis’ heart is beating more wildly than probably ever before. 

They’d only rehearsed it in person twice, just before coming inside. But it felt like a puzzle that someone had taken apart - the pieces will still always fit together. 

Inside the studio, Louis can hear the sound of Harry obsessing over a two note phrase. His heart warms, just hearing how much of his heart and soul that Harry is putting into every single detail of his songs. 

Louis leads the other lads back to the recording area and raises his hand to knock but Harry looks up just before his knuckles hit the doorframe. The look on his face when he sees that Louis is trailed by Liam, Niall, and Zayn is absolutely priceless. His jaw absolutely hits the ground.

Thankfully, the studio that Harry goes to has a rather large recording space, but even still it’s not exactly spacious with all of them. The five of them squeeze in the room, automatically reverting back to the norm of being practically stacked on top of each other. 

“Lou, what’s going on?” Harry’s eyes don’t know where to land, that much is clear.

And because Louis lives for the dramatic effect, he doesn’t say anything to Harry. He just looks to Liam to give them the pitch. 

Liam hums and then they’re off. 

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 

Six geese a-laying,

five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 

Seven swans a-swimming,

six geese a-laying,

five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Eight maids a-milking,

seven swans a-swimming,

six geese a-laying,

five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Nine ladies dancing,

eight maids a-milking,

seven swans a-swimming,

six geese a-laying,

five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Ten lords a-leaping,

nine ladies dancing,

eight maids a-milking,

seven swans a-swimming,

six geese a-laying,

five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Eleven pipers piping,

ten lords a-leaping,

nine ladies dancing,

eight maids a-milking,

seven swans a-swimming,

six geese a-laying,

five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Twelve drummers drumming,

eleven pipers piping,

ten lords a-leaping,

nine ladies dancing,

eight maids a-milking,

seven swans a-swimming,

six geese a-laying,

five golden rings.

Four calling birds,

three French hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree!

Harry is flabbergasted, that much is clear. He also looks emotional, understandably. A little excited shiver runs through Louis’ body because this is just the beginning. 

“Harry,” Louis begins as soon as the song is over. “This begins 12 Days of presents that I have planned for you. Each day you’ll get another present from me that will hopefully show you that you mean the world to me.”

“Lou.” Harry smiles and Louis knows instantly that he’s done good. “You organized all this? I can’t believe it. You’re too good to me.”

“I’m just trying to be the good that you deserve.”

Harry kisses him. 

“Um,” Harry bites at the skin of his knuckle, like he’s mulling something over. 

“What?” Louis asks, half panicked. 

“You know that  _ technically speaking  _ the 12 Days of Christmas is supposed to begin on Christmas and go thereafter, right?”

“I did not know that.” Louis stands firm, doesn’t miss a beat, letting his rambunctious side out. 

Niall’s cackling laughter breaks through and suddenly all five of them are laughing. The sounds of their mixed laughter take Louis back to a time where things were much simpler. He chooses not to dwell on the dull ache that presents itself in his heart. Instead, he insists that they grab dinner and get absolutely smashed. 

Liam and Zayn both decide to forgo the drinks, which Louis perfectly understands and supports. Harry, however, gets so drunk that Louis has to take him home. 

“Home.” Harry pokes Louis’ cheek. “One of my favorite songs that you wrote for me. Which is why I leaked it as soon as they told us it wasn’t going on an album.”

Louis laughs, fondly shaking his head at the memory. 

The goodbye is hard. Louis knows that he will see Liam soon, so that doesn’t hit him hard. But when he gives Niall a hug, he squeezes probably a little too hard. And when his eyes land on Zayn, he starts to simply give him a vague nod. He definitely doesn’t want to do anything that would make Zayn uncomfortable. 

But his lip quivers when Zayn pulls him into a tight hug. If he weren’t sidetracked with making sure Harry doesn’t accidentally hurt himself, he’d probably have a cry about it right then and there. But he lets go first, with a light tap on Zayn’s back. It’s not perfect but the bond runs deep. 

He glances around, one last time, at the faces of these lads that saw the world with him and the dull ache is back. Louis gives a half-smile, knowing that though no one is saying anything (other than Harry’s drunk blubbering) they all feel it too. He honestly doesn’t know when they will all be together like this again. If ever. But he has hope. 

“See you around, lads.” Louis says, trying to sound nonchalant, but failing. And then, “I love the lot of you.”

All four of them say it back. And Louis walks out with Harry practically hanging from his arms, too focused on how much he hates walking away.

-

He decides that he wants to give Harry his presents at night when he gets home from the studio. Mainly because he wants to actually have the time with him to fully appreciate his reaction to the gifts. 

So, Louis spends day two of the gift-giving making sure that everything is squared away for every single day of gifts. And he also spends some time writing for what he thinks may be his second album. But it’s hard to really focus on anything other than these gifts that he’s been planning for, mulling over, and perfecting for the last few months. 

When Harry finally makes it home on night two, it’s almost like he’s surprised all over again. Louis waits until he makes it out of the shower and settles down for the night before he comes sauntering in their bedroom, holding the paper out for Harry. 

“What is this?” Harry asks as he doesn’t hesitate to take the paper from Louis.

“It’s your Day Two gift.” Louis says, and then he’s got a shiver of worry running through him. “Um, I know it’s not super extravagant.”

“Lou, stop,” Harry immediately looks at him intensely. “You know that we don’t need extravagant things. Your presence in my life is extravagant enough. I like this kind of stuff more anyway.”

“Okay,” he bites his lip. “I also tried to sort of stick with the theme of the lyrics of the song, but some of them are hard. Did you know that entire song is basically based off of the Christian religion?”

“I did know that. And now we’re defiling it with our gay Christmas gifts.” Harry laughs, almost mischievously. 

His laugh dies in his throat, however, when he finally opens the paper and reads what Louis wrote for him. 

_ Day Two is about peace. _

_ You are my peace. _

_ You are my safe place. _

_ My heart used to be a battleground, and now you’ve taken the weapon out of my hands. _

_ Where there used to be storms, the water runs calm. _

_ When the world looks too closely, with their judging eyes, you are my crossing boundary.  _

_ What I always thought was impossible becomes so with you.  _

_ You are my peace.  _

-

The next morning, neither of them have any obligations until the afternoon. So Louis wakes up to the smell of bacon and instantly a smile forms on his lips. Harry cooking for him - it just  _ does  _ things to him. In his heart, and … elsewhere. 

He pads into the kitchen as quietly as he can, fully intending on scaring Harry. But then he sees him, standing there in a floral crop top and his favorite pair of jean shorts, and Louis’ heart melts into mush. So instead, he strides over to Harry and wraps his arms around him from behind, and hooks his chin on his shoulder. He may or may not have to stand on his tiptoes to do so, but Harry doesn’t comment on it. Bless him. 

“Good morning, love.” Louis whispers into his neck, pressing a soft kiss there. “You do all this for me?”

“‘Course.” Harry’s voice is still rough from sleep. Louis is positively endeared by him. “Gotta do something to make up for the insane amount of gifts that you’re planning on giving me.”

“No,” Louis retorts. “No, you don’t have anything to make up for.  _ I’m  _ making it up to _ you _ .” 

Harry shakes his head. He doesn’t say anything, though Louis knows that Harry doesn’t like that he's so hard on himself over what happened in their past. He’s tried, on multiple occasions, to get Louis to stop thinking like that, but to no avail. 

Harry plates their food just a few moments later, and Louis can’t get enough of this domestic bullshit. It’s stupid, but this moment is all that Louis has ever wanted. Sitting across from Harry, watching as ties up his hair in a half-bun. He hums to himself as he picks up his utensils, so carefree and happy. Louis smiles, knowing how long it’s taken Harry to get to this point. He thanks god that he’s able to be here, across from him watching it.

“What?” Harry worries his lip between his teeth. “Why are you staring at me?”

“I just love you.” 

Harry smiles down at his eggs, poking at them mindlessly. He looks back up at Louis a moment later and in his eyes, Louis sees the sixteen-year old that he fell for all those years ago. An ache grips at Louis’ heart, just knowing how much he’s been through, yet he’s still here sitting across from him and showing him his heart.

“I love you.”

They finish breakfast, being entirely too sickening. The moment is perfect, with unabashed eye contact and unguarded smiles. Louis knows that this will be one of his favorite moments, just a private moment of love with no prying eyes analyzing their every move. Just, them.

His day three gift is perfect for today. 

When he finally gets home that evening, after spending most of the day in meetings, he hears Harry in their piano room playing different melodies. Louis lets out a giddy noise, thinking about Harry seeing his gift for today. He runs to their room to change out of his stiff meeting clothes. Once he’s got a pair of shorts securely on his hips, he grabs the gift from where he hid it in the guest bedroom with the scratchy blankets that Anne likes to use when she stays over - he knew Harry would never look through these drawers.

He makes his way to the piano room, where Harry has started humming softly. The piano faces the huge window in the room, instead of facing the doorway.  _ For artistic reasons _ , as Harry had explained to him. Louis is grateful for it now, as he sets the book on a side table and wordlessly goes to sit on the bench next to Harry. He lays his head peacefully on Harry’s shoulder. 

The notes to Little Things start playing and Louis has to press a giddy smile into Harry’s shoulder. His fingers find the keys to play along, neither of them actually saying anything - not that they need to. They learned to love each other in silence long ago, for shitty reasons at the time, but Louis is glad for it now. 

When the final notes fade out, Harry turns to him with a silly smile. He’s so proud of himself and it’s incredibly endearing. 

“So,” Louis gets up to grab his gift, quickly sliding back on the bench next to Harry. “Here is your gift for today.”

Harry lights up, eagerly taking it from Louis’ hands. Louis studies his face as he opens the scrapbook to reveal pictures of them from ages ago. He flips through pages and pages of the moments of love captured over the years. Louis even includes little descriptions next to some pictures, like the one from the Paris interview:  _ I was trying to hide it here, but I loved you so much I could’ve screamed it to the world. I would’ve given it all up for you, right here in this moment. _

Louis bites his lip so hard that he nearly breaks skin, listening to Harry’s every gasp and sigh as he looks through the scrapbook. He had decided to leave the last chunk of the scrapbook blank ( _ to leave room for the rest of our love story _ , he had written), but he did hide one little surprise taped to the inside of the back cover.

Harry pulls the envelope from the cover and opens it. Two tickets to Paris. 

“They’re for whenever. Whenever we can find the time to escape to the City of Love. And if you were wondering, this was all inspired by the French hens.”

Harry laughs so loudly it echoes, and then he slaps a hand over his mouth. It’s one of Louis’ favorite things that Harry does.

“You’re so cute.” Louis whispers, feeling his heart beating intensely in his chest. 

“ _ Me _ ?” He asks incredulously. “You literally just gave me the cutest gift of all time and you are calling me cute? Actually, look, I have a whole tag on my fan Tumblr called cute Lou.” 

He pulls out his phone, all ready to show Louis. But Louis has to kiss him. He hears Harry’s phone clunk on the floor but neither of them flinch. 

“Babe,” Harry kisses at Louis’ jaw, his voice dropping in a way that has goosebumps erupting on Louis’ skin. 

“What?” Louis asks, eyes blissfully closed. 

“Follow me.” 

And then Harry is up and running. Louis stares after him for a few moments, fully stunned. His boy never stops surprising him. A smirk finds its way to his lips and then he’s off. 

As he trails behind Harry, he sees his shirt tossed aside in the hall. Followed by his jeans, and then at the back door, his pants. 

“Harry?” Louis asks, peeking out the door. It’s kinda dark out, but Louis can see Harry stepping into their jacuzzi. “It’s literally winter.”

“The water is warm.” Harry calls back. “C’mon!”

Louis chuckles to himself as he sheds his shorts at the door and follows. He’d follow his boy anywhere. He steps into the warm water, feeling instant relief from the cold air. 

“Hey,” Harry crawls into his lap, pressing their skin together. “Wanna get a little  _ hot  _ in the hot tub?”

Louis doesn’t even have it in him to give Harry shit. God, he’s in love with such a beautiful dork.

-

Louis wakes up the next morning sore in all the right places. He stretches, listening to his joints popping deliciously. He yawns as Harry stirs beside him. Today is one of the days that Louis is most excited about. He rolls over and turns both of their phones off, setting them in the side table drawer before turning back over and pulling Harry into his chest.

“Lou,” Harry croaks tiredly. “I’ve gotta get up soon, have an early day today.”

“Actually no you don’t.” Louis smiles into the bare skin of Harry’s back. “I talked to all your people months ago. Today, my gift to you is related to the calling birds - kind of. Today you and I are going off the grid. No phones, social media, or work. Just you and I, uninterrupted.” 

“God, I love you so much.” Harry turns around in Louis’ arms and almost instantly falls back asleep. 

They spend the day together, blissfully obligation-free. And Harry decides that his gift to Louis is giving him a blow job on every surface in their home. The day couldn’t be more perfect. 

-

Day five of gift-giving is a long and stressful one. Louis has another day of meetings, and he’s got some contracts that he’s got to drop at his lawyer’s office, which is a bit of a drive. And he’s got to pick up his present for day five at the jewelers, which is of course, in the opposite direction. In fact, he barely makes it to the jeweler before they close. 

“Louis!” The older lady smiles brightly, opening the door and locking it behind him. “I wasn’t sure if you’d make it, lad.” 

“Me either, Edith.” Louis lets out a half stressed chuckle. “It’s been quite the day. I’m sorry for showing up late.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about it!” Her eyes hold such genuine warmth, it almost reminds Louis of his gran. “I’ll go grab your box for you.” 

Louis nods, letting his eyes roam around the shop. This is Harry’s favorite place to purchase his rings, other than Gucci. They end up with a lot of rare, antique pieces that Harry just falls in love with. He nearly buys him an extra present, but then decides that he’s already put Edith through enough trouble by showing upright as she was locking the door. He does make a mental note, though, for future gift ideas. 

“Okay, here ya go!” She emerges from the back with a long black box. “Please feel free to take a look before you go! The custom box just came in yesterday - I was right worried that it wouldn’t come in time.”

Louis opens the box and is completely blown away. He looks everything over and cannot possibly wait to give it to Harry. 

“It’s perfect, Edith. Thank you so much.” 

“You are most welcome!” She smiles even brighter and then, “I will be seeing you back here in a few days, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am.” A shiver runs through Louis’ body. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to take it with you now? It’s ready in the back - ”

“No, definitely not.” Louis insists. “I want zero chance of Harry finding it before, you know.”

She just nods, still smiling. Louis thanks her again and leaves the shop, feeling the weight of the box in his pocket. He swallows thickly, quickly getting into his car and doing his best to let the nerves go. 

To say that he speeds back home to Harry would be an understatement. It’s like he’s got tunnel vision and the only thing he can think of is how Harry will react to his gift. He is positive that this will be one of Harry’s favorite gifts from the whole thing - though, hopefully not his top favorite. Louis clears his throat and walks through the front door.

Harry has dinner cooked for them on the table. Louis has to shake his head, totally in awe of how amazing Harry is. He’s one of the busiest people on the planet and yet, he still finds the time to make dinner for him. Most people in their profession have people hired to help them do the cooking and cleaning but Harry fully insists that they can handle it. 

“Has anyone told you lately how incredible you are?” Louis asks, giving Harry a quick kiss before sitting across from him, the box still heavy in his pocket.

“Thanks, Lou.” Harry smiles softly. “Not as incredible as you though.”

“No, you.” Louis mimics a lovesick teenager on the phone. “Are you prepared to go down this road? Because I am  _ certain _ that I will win this game.”

Harry laughs loudly and Louis feels a sense of pride wash over him. Nothing in this world compares to the feeling of Louis making his love laugh. Another dull ache presents itself when Louis thinks back to a time when it was hard and the laughs were few and far in between. The journey that they’ve been on to be where they are now is truly incredible. Out of pure instinct, Louis reaches for Harry’s hand. Harry welcomes the touch without any hesitation. 

“Harry,” Louis reaches for the box with his free hand. “Your gift for today is a special one. And I really hope you love it.”

“I know I will.” Harry smiles sweetly. As soon as he sees the box, he gets so excited. “Ooooh, is it a necklace?”

“No,” Louis hands the box to him. “The box is just weird to accommodate the amount of rings.”

Harry cracks open the box and his jaw hits the ground.

“Oh my god.” His eyes are wide, fully in shock. “You didn’t. Is this - did you get me five golden rings?”

Louis feels his cheeks get red. “Maybe.”

“What does this mean?” Harry touches the words on the inside of the box and reads them aloud. “I meant it then, and forever. What?”

“Take the rings out. They’re engraved.” Louis swallows, knowing that his feeling of nerves is completely unnecessary. 

Harry takes out each ring and reads;  _ Always  _ on the index ring,  _ in my  _ on the middle ring,  _ heart _ on the ring finger,  _ yours sincerely  _ on the pinky ring, and  _ Louis _ on the thumb ring. 

He looks up with tears in his eyes. Just seeing Harry get emotional over the gift has Louis’ eyes filling with tears too. Neither of them speak as Harry carefully puts each ring on his finger. Words aren’t necessary between them, they know all the things that are left unsaid. It’s almost as if the connection that they have would actually be dampened if either of them tried to use words to express how they’re feeling. 

Once Harry has all the rings on, he looks up at Louis and dramatically shoves everything on the table aside, and literally crawls over the table. 

They christen the new rings, right there on the table, with their dinner getting cold, and their drinks spilling onto the floor. 

-

Day six is fun. Louis has some meetings with his lawyers and financial advisors earlier in the day, so he leaves Harry a note on the fridge telling him that there are six “eggs” for him to find around the house. He has to get up at four in the morning to hide all the gifts, but it’s totally worth it. 

When he finally gets the chance to look at his phone, he’s got ten messages from Harry, begging him to tell him where they are. 

Eggs, in this sense, are supposed to be small, hidden things around the house that are almost unnoticeable. Louis decided he’d just hide six presents around the house, each with a clue as to where another gift is. 

From the sounds of it, Harry has found four before he has to go into the studio for the evening. Louis smirks, almost proud. 

When he makes it home in the early evening, he can tell exactly which gifts Harry has found. He found the matching Gucci scarves, the silk lingerie set, the box of chocolate-covered strawberries (though, they were in the fridge so that one wasn’t hard), and a floral hoodie. 

Louis has settled in front of the telly, fully in veg out mode. He’s fully decked in his favorite worn Adidas sweats, with a hand permanently in the bag of crisps he’s been snacking on. 

When his phone starts vibrating under his thigh, he nearly flips the bag of chips upside down with how hard he jumps. 

_ Fuck _ , he mutters to himself, wiping his fingers off on his sweats. As soon as he looks at his screen, he smiles. 

“Hello, love.” Louis answers. 

“Baaaaabe,” Harry’s voice carries through the phone and Louis can tell just how tired he is. “I think I may have to stay late tonight. So you should just tell me where the other two eggs are.”

“Nuh uh,” he shakes his head for dramatic effect, even though he knows Harry can’t see him. 

“Pleeeeeeeease?” Harry draws the word out, and Louis is pretty sure he can hear him pouting. 

“Sorry, darling.” Louis smirks. 

“Fine,” and yeah, he’s definitely pouting now. “Since you  _ haaaate  _ me.”

Harry is completely joking, that much is obvious. But he does know how to get his way. 

“Ugh,” Louis sighs, ignoring Harry’s triumphant giggle. “I will give you some hints when you get home. That’s all you’re getting!”

“Yes!!!” Some weird noises come through the other side of the phone, followed by more of Harry’s sweet laughter. “Sorry, I got so excited I dropped my phone.”

“My clumsy boy,” he shakes his head fondly. 

“But you love me.” Harry is smiling wide, Louis can hear it in his voice. 

“I do, very much so.”

“And I very much so love you. Okay, I’ve gotta go. These sappy love songs won’t write themselves.”

Louis ends up falling asleep on the couch not long after their conversation. And he’s only mildly woken up by Harry fitting himself into Louis’ arms on the couch hours later.

“‘Za,” Louis says, barely even mustering the strength to speak. “We’ve gotta get your presents.”

“It can wait.” Harry snuggles further into Louis. 

And yeah, he’s right. Louis’ arms tighten around his boy.  _ Just a little longer.  _

He’s woken up later, by Harry poking his cheek repeatedly. 

“What?” Louis opens his eyes to see Harry, his hair wild and ruffled. 

“Your stomach grumbling woke me up. We should eat something.”

“Fuck,” Louis groans as his stomach growls, right on cue. 

It’s nearing one in the morning, so they order pizza from the only place still open - Barbican Express. 

“I love this life we have.” Harry says randomly, stuffing pizza into his mouth. 

“Me too, love.” 

Eating pizza in the middle of the night with his soulmate is all that Louis has really wanted from life. 

“Soooo,” Harry closes the empty pizza box and gives Louis a mischievous look. “What are those hints you promised me?”

“Okay, let me think…” Louis trails off, just to build the suspense. “Rub-a-dub-dub, one of your presents is in the - ”

“Tub!!” He sits up excitedly and then he’s running out of the room. As quickly as he left, he’s back in the room. 

“Yes?”

“Which bathroom?” He’s already breathless. He’s too cute for his own good. 

“I’m not telling you!” Louis laughs. 

He can tell exactly when Harry finds it - even upstairs Louis can hear his gasp. He smiles to himself, knowing that Harry already loves it. 

“Louis!” He calls through the house. “What’s the next hint? The clue with this one makes no sense! All it says is ‘where it’s cold, you’ll find the subject of take two’. What does that mean? Who even came up with these?”

“Oi,” Louis calls. 

“Sorreeeh, I love you!” Harry yells back, and then Louis can hear his heavy footfalls coming down the stairs. “But what does it mean?”

“Well, that was actually the clue for the strawberries. How did you find them without that clue?”

“It’s you,” Harry shrugs, nonchalantly. “I figured you’d be a shit and hide something in the fridge. Though I am surprised it was something that was actually supposed to be refrigerated.”

“You better watch it,” Louis warns, still joking. “Anyway, before you so rudely attacked my tactics, I was going to give you the hint of where the final gift is. Your last gift is hidden in plain sight, next to the pen holder. The gift needs ink, but a pen won’t do the trick!”

Harry doesn’t respond after that. Louis can hear his feet running upstairs again, and Louis can completely imagine his face - like that of a kid in a candy store. Louis smiles even wider, almost glad that this is the last gift that Harry finds, when he hears a shout of joy.

Harry runs back to Louis, with a blindingly beautiful look on his face. In one hand, he’s holding a pair of yellow swimming shorts, and two business cards in the other. 

“First, where did you find these? I’ve been looking for a new pair for basically ever.” 

“Let’s just say that I have my sources.” Louis lives for the dramatics. In all reality, he just spent hours going through every online catalogue that he could. 

“And, these? What are we getting? When are the appointments?” He’s practically jumping up and down with joy, as he holds the cards that confirm their tattoo appointments.

“I basically told them that we would probably be in sometime in January. Or maybe for your birthday. I don’t know what we’re getting necessarily. We could always decide later. I just figured it’s been a while since we got any matching tattoos. It’s probably time to update the collection.”

“You are my favorite human on this entire planet.” 

Louis feels happiness spread through him like the first ray of sunlight on a warm summer day. Just maybe he’s finally on the road to forgiving himself for being the cause of the storms between them. 

-

“Louis, wake up, love.” Harry nudges Louis awake the next morning. 

“Mphf.” Louis groans.

“Lou, I made some tea. It’s here on the nightstand. Lottie phoned this morning to remind you that you have a zoom call with the lot of them in a couple hours.”

Louis sits up, grumpily listening to his bones crack as he stretches out. 

“I’m old,” Louis mourns.

“You stop that.” Harry admonishes him immediately. “You’re not old because then that would mean that I’m old.”

“You are.” Louis smirks at him.

“Heyyyyy.” 

“You know I’m just taking the piss, love. We’ve got a solid decade before we are officially old.” 

“Wonder what life will look like in a decade.”

Louis can imagine it perfectly. They’ll have three kids - and at least one of them will have the same drive to perform. He can see them arguing with the big names, getting their kids the best contracts and refusing to let them go through the same thing that they went through. He imagines writing a song about seeing their first child for the first time. They’ll be completely out by then, all the tabloids having gotten over it as quickly as Louis knew that they would. 

“Babe, you okay? You zoned off there.”

“Oh,” Louis blinks. “Yeah, I was just thinking of our future.”

“Good things, I hope?” Harry tries to hide the shiver of fear that passes through him, but Louis sees it anyway.

“Yes, darling.” He kisses Harry’s cheek tenderly. “Only good things. Now, go on! I’ve got to wrap your present for today still, and I know you need to meet with some writers today.”

“Lou, you waited this long to wrap my present?” Harry shakes his head, still half smiling. 

“Don’t judge me, Harold.” He squints eyes at Harry over the rim of his mug, chugging the last of the tea. 

“I would never.” Harry leans down and gives him a proper kiss. “I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”

“I love you too!”

As soon Harry is out the door, Louis practically sprints into action. He runs around the house, making sure that every last thing is prepared for the next few days. Well, everything except for the last gift. The last gift is special.

Louis shakes his head, he can’t think too much on the last day of this whole ordeal or he will stress himself out. So instead, he focuses on making sure every last detail is ironed out. 

The zoom call ends up lasting several hours. 

“I can’t wait to see what happens on Christmas.” Lottie says quietly once the others are all distracted by something that Doris is doing in the kitchen.

“Me too.” Louis sighs, trying to hide his nerves.

“It’ll be fine, Lou. I promise you. If not, then I will dye my hair green. And that would not be a good look for me.”

Louis laughs, high and unabashed. His heart aches for his family. He wishes, more than anything, that he had spent more time with them. But he shakes his head, knowing that he did the best that he could with the hand that he was given. 

“Loooooottieeee!” Earnest’s voice calls from another room. 

And then Louis hears a crash noise, followed by instant chaos. Lottie shoots him an apology before ending the call. Louis smiles to himself, knowing that his little brother definitely has some of that Tommo wildness in him. 

When Harry gets home that evening, he’s got take-out in hand.

“Honey, I’m hoooome!” Harry calls, even though Louis is literally right there. 

“You are so domestic, it hurts.” Louis pokes him, taking the bags from him. “C’mon, let me give you your gift before we dig into this. I can’t wait any longer.”

While Harry gets changed, Louis brings the wrapped gift down and then sets the table for dinner. He doesn’t even realize that he’s humming until Harry joins him, hopping on the harmony. How did he get so lucky?

“Alright, have a seat, I’ll bring it to you. It’s kind of heavy.” 

He hands the gift over, careful that Harry doesn’t do anything clumsy. He’s actually quite proud of how well this one is wrapped. There’s a bow and everything. 

Harry, the perfectionist that he is, carefully unwraps the gift without tearing the paper at all.

“So, today the lyrics to the song are about swans. So I did some research into it and apparently swans mate for life. They’re the symbol of soulmates.”

Harry finally frees the wrapping paper from the gift to reveal a large oil painting of two swans, their beaks touching and creating a heart in the space between them. 

“You’re my soulmate, Harry.” Louis says. 

Harry doesn’t say anything for a tortuous moment. He just runs his fingertips over the painting and bites his lip. When he looks up at Louis from where he’s sitting, Louis can see the raw emotion in his eyes. 

“You are fucking incredible.” Harry whispers. “I love you, so fucking much.”

They hang the painting in their bedroom, right above their bed. 

_ In case we ever forget _ , Harry had said. 

But Louis lost sight of it once - he knows he’ll never make that mistake again. 

-

The next day, Louis is excited for, but also incredibly nervous. He’s making  _ the  _ dinner for Harry tonight. 

“It has to be perfect,” Louis says into the phone that evening. “Harry will be home in two hours so I have no room for error.”

“It  _ will  _ be perfect,” Liam says on the other line. “You will be fine. You’ve made it before.”

“Yes,” Louis sighs, clanking the pots around trying to find the one he’s looking for. “But only the one time. And even then, I’m pretty sure Harry was just being the beautiful soul that he is and hyped it up more than it deserved.”

“That may be true,” he jokes, “but, you’re not a kid anymore. You’re a grown man and I fully believe in your ability to make a wonderful dinner for your boyfriend.”

“Thanks for the support.” Louis takes a big breath and then lets it out. “But I’m going to have you on speed dial if I catch the whole place on fire.”

“Okay,” Liam laughs so hard that he drops his phone. “Alright, you better get off the phone and put your full focus on making the dinner.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Louis nods and a feeling of determination washes over him. “I’ll get off the line then. Thanks, Payno. Love you, lad.”

“Love you too, Tommo. Come see me sometime soon, okay, you shithead?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Louis hangs up, with a goofy smile on his face. Some things will never change.

He spends the next two hours working tirelessly to get everything perfect. And okay, maybe Liam was right. Maybe he had honed his skills a little bit more than he gave himself credit for. 

Harry walks through the door just as Louis is setting their plates on the table.

“Lou, what happened? It smells incredible in here.” Harry comes into the dining room, still wearing his granddad winter coat, looking adorably concerned.

“First of all, the fact that you sound concerned is offensive.” 

“Did you…” Harry’s eyes travel over the dinner, the beautiful recognition written all over his face. “Is this - ”

“Chicken stuffed with mozzarella wrapped in parma ham with a side of homemade mash?” Louis asks, promptly biting his lip. “Yeah, it is.”

“Louis, are you trying to get my heart to explode? I don’t know if I’ll make it until Christmas. This is amazing.  _ You’re  _ amazing.”

“You better make it to Christmas.” Louis shoves at his shoulder playfully. “And really, I’m only doing what you deserve. To make up for - ”

“Lou,” Harry warns fiercely. “Don’t even go there.”

Louis’ mouth opens and then closes again. He knows not to disagree with Harry on this particular subject. The corners of his lips turn up into a smile because, damn. Harry’s probably the only person in the world that Louis will actually listen to. 

They eat the meal and laugh over how much better it is now than it was the last time that Louis made it. 

“Really, Lou, I’m sorry I doubted you.” Harry says as he stuffs another bite into his mouth. “This is amazing. You’ll have to make it more often.”

“Only the best for the best.” 

It’s a cheesy thing to say but it makes Harry’s light up so Louis regrets nothing. 

Later that night, they’re in bed watching some shitty reality show on the telly. Harry’s fingers are aimlessly tracing along Louis’ chest.

“Sweet?” Harry asks, looking up from where he’s got his head resting on Louis’ chest.

Harry started calling him Sweet after he discovered that Louis listened to Sweet Creature on repeat so much that it’s his top song of the year. It makes Louis’ heart do backflips every time. He has to press the side of his face into the pillows to hide his giddy smile. 

“Yes, love?”

“You never explained how today’s gift fits in with the lyrics of the song.”

“Well, it was eight maids of milking and there was milk in the - yeah, I was sort of at a loss for that one. The only other thing I could think of was just telling you to milk me - ”

Harry goes into an absolute  _ fit  _ of contagious laughter, and soon enough they’re laughing so hard that they’re wheezing in pain. 

Some things never change. 

-

“Looooou!” Harry’s voice cuts through his pleasant dreaming, but a smile is already forming on his lips. “Have you seen my car keys?”

“No?” Louis calls back, holding back his smile. Here it goes, putting his acting skills to the test. “Are they in your coat? You did wear it into the dining room yesterday. Maybe it fell.”

Louis is out of bed, fully prepared to help him look even though he knows exactly where they are. 

“I looked.” Harry huffs in frustration. “I can’t find them anywhere.”

“I’m sure they’re around here somewhere.”

Harry’s phone starts ringing and Louis can see his stress level rising. He feels just the tiniest bit guilty, but it’s all part of the plan. 

“‘llo?” Harry answers, still pacing around, eyes wildly flying around the room. “I know, I know. I can’t find my keys, but I’ll be on the way soon. Yes. Yes. I will. Bye.”

“I’ll drive you to the studio.” Louis offers. “I’ve got some things to do in that area anyway. We’ll probably get done around the same time too.”

“Okay,” Harry eyes him weirdly. He’s definitely onto him. 

“Unless you want to keep looking?” Louis tries to play it cool as best as he can. It’s hard to keep things from the one person who really sees you. 

“No,” Harry shakes his head and Louis is reminded of just how long his hair is getting. “That’s fine, you can take me.”

On the way out the door, Louis sets Harry’s keys on the hook where he had left them the night before. Harry doesn’t notice a thing, thankfully. He’s not sure how he would’ve explained that one away. 

And then they’re off. Louis taps the steering wheel to the beat of the new Ed Sheeran song blasting through the radio while Harry scrolls through twitter. The modern love story. They pull into the back entrance and Louis is pretty sure he spots a suspicious person with a camera, but he honestly can’t even be bothered to care anymore. The end of the bullshit is near anyway.

“Have a good day, love.” 

“Be here at half six?” Harry asks, already distracted. 

“Yep!”

They exchange a quick peck goodbye, and as soon as the door closes behind Harry, Louis lets out a sigh of relief. His plan worked. 

He throws the car in reverse and heads to the dry cleaners to pick up their suits.

Louis spends the rest of the day focused on work. He also hops on zoom with Hayley Kiyoko to discuss the possibility of doing a song together for Louis’ next album, which Louis is officially stoked for. 

He pulls up to the studio early, already all spiffed out in his snazzy suit. He even sent Lou a text to ask how to style his hair for tonight. 

Harry sees Harry through the glass of the recording booth and he looks like a deer caught in headlights. Louis can’t help but smile. In the middle of the song he was working on, he just leaves the booth and goes straight to Louis.

“What is this? You look...I’m speechless. You look incredible.”

“Here’s yours.” Louis holds up the bag with his suit perfectly dry cleaned inside. “Go change, when you’re ready, of course.”

Harry looks wordlessly to the producer who looks as unsurprised as ever.

“Go.” He literally shoos him. “That was the last of it anyway. Get out of here.”

He’s literally jumping around with excitement and going on about how he  _ knew  _ Louis had something to do with his missing keys. Louis can’t help but chuckle to himself. Harry will always be a kid at heart, even when they’re old and grey. 

When he emerges from the bathroom, in a white and pink pinstripe suit, it’s Louis’ turn to be speechless. Harry didn’t even know about this until ten minutes ago, and yet he looks like he’s red carpet ready. Jesus fucking Christ, Louis can’t wait to take it off of him when they get home.

“So, you gonna tell me where we’re going?” Harry asks once they’re on the road. 

“I know how you love to dance,” Louis starts, barely able to keep his eyes on the road and not on the beautiful person in his passenger seat. 

“Even though I’m rubbish at it.” Harry throws in.

“You’re not.” Louis says firmly. He won’t let anyone bad mouth Harry - not even Harry himself. “You just don’t conform to what society thinks, which is one of my favorite things about you. But anyway, I was trying to think of what could fit with the lyrics for today, and then it hit me. You told me once long ago that you’ve always wanted to go to a professional ballet - ”

“Lou, stop.” Harry can’t hide his excitement. “Are we going to a ballet right now? Really?!”

“Yeah, we are. The Nutcracker too, so it’s a classic.”

“Oh my god, Louis, I’m running out of ways to say that I love you.”

“Well as long as you don’t run out of the love, I think I’ll be okay.”

Harry reaches over to intertwine their fingers, over the middle console.

“Never.”

The ballet is pretty good, especially from their socially distanced VIP box. But what is even better is watching Harry. He’s like a kid in a candy store. If Louis had known he’d love it this much, he’d have taken him to a ballet long ago.

Harry also gets a little drunk on the wine that they serve, and his cheeks turn this adorable pink that almost matches the pink in his suit. God could not have created a better human than Harry Styles, Louis is certain of it. 

“Not gonna lie, baby,” Harry murmurs when they’re safely seated in Louis’ car. “I really thought the dancing ladies day was going to include strippers.”

“Harold!” Louis is taken aback. “You really thought I’d do that? All these heartfelt, intense gifts and you thought I’d throw some strippers in there?”

“Or maybe I was just hoping that you’d be the stripper.”

“Oh god,” Louis can’t help but chuckle a little. “You wish.”

“I do.” Harry doesn’t hesitate. 

Louis throws him a look but doesn’t say anything else on the subject. 

All Louis can say is, what his baby wants, he shall get.

-

Christmas is in two days.  _ Two days.  _ And his birthday is tomorrow. The big 29. Louis shudders at that thought. So much is going on in the next few days that he can hardly bear it. 

But the good news is that they’re officially on holiday until after the new year. Louis had been so wrapped up making sure everything went off without a hitch that he hadn’t even noticed the time passing by. 

“Okay,” Harry says over brunch. “We probably have to do at least some coordinating with gift stuff since your birthday is tomorrow and I have plans for you.”

“Okay!” Louis says over his bite of eggs. “But also know that just being with you is enough for me.”

“I know, you big sap,” Harry rolls his eyes fondly. “But I have to do something for you. You are the love of my life, after all.”

“Who’s the big sap now?” Louis literally sticks his tongue out at Harry. 

Harry throws a piece of bacon at Louis, which Louis immediately picks up and eats triumphantly. 

“Anyway,” he gives Harry a pointed look. “As for what I was trying to say before you assaulted me with your pork - ew, Harry that was not a pun, don’t look at me like that. My last few gifts are not something that have to adhere to a specific schedule or anything. So we can adjust your presents for whatever you have planned.”

“Okay, good.” He looks visibly relieved. “Also are we still going to my mum’s house for Christmas?” 

“Yes! I just spoke with her the other day about that. I figure we could leave here the night before just to be able to spend the full day with them?”

Harry looks so excited to see his family that it hurts. Being so busy living the dream makes it hard to remember to live your life outside of that dream too. 

Louis escapes a few hours later to go pick up  _ The Gift _ . When he makes his way inside the jeweler’s, he thinks he sees a flash out of the corner of his eye. He can just see it now - headline upon headline over him going to a jewelry shop. Well, let them talk. He almost contemplates adding fuel to fire, but decides against it. 

“Edith, nice to see you.” Louis nods to her. “I see you’ve got some new pieces in.”

“Yes, we do! I can pull anything out if you’d like to have a look.”

“Not today, thank you. I know I’ll be back in the future though.”

“Alright,” her voice cracks in the way that elderly people’s voices do. “Let me get you your ring.”

She hobbles to the back. As soon as she comes back, her entire face is lit up. She knows exactly what’s about to happen. 

“I know he’ll love it.” She says as she hands over the little black box. “It’s beautiful.” 

Louis thanks her, but he can’t help but feel like she’s got this look on her face like she knows something that he doesn’t know. For one panicked moment, he worries that she has sold this story to a tabloid or something. But then he just decides that he’s being paranoid. She’s too much like his Nan to ever do something like that. He leaves her an enormous tip and heads home to his boy.

The box is hidden safely in the secret pocket of his jean jacket but he still feels a wave of panic being near Harry with it on him. He practically runs to the guest bedroom where he’s got his bags packed for the trip to Holmes Chapel, hiding the box in a wadded pair of socks. He knows for SURE that Harry won’t find it there. 

Directly after hiding the box, he goes to find his present for today. This is one that he’s extremely excited about, and he knows that Harry will absolutely be blown away. He grabs the gift from where he had hidden it under the sink in one of their guest bathrooms. It’s actually comical how many gifts have been hidden around their house in random places these past few days. 

He pads over to Harry, who is staring at his phone with furrowed brows. Louis is sure that Harry’s probably caught up looking at something on Twitter or Tumblr. 

“Lou, did you - oh!” Harry looks up, jumping so hard that the phone falls out of his hand. “I didn’t hear you come up. And you have another gift, and it’s wrapped!”

“Yeah,” Louis shrugs, “I was too lazy to wrap your other gifts but since I saw your immaculate unwrapping the other day, I realized I had to wrap this last one.”

“Last one? Aren’t there two more days?” Harry takes the gift from Louis’ hands. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Yes, but the last two won’t be able to be wrapped. So this is the last chance.” Louis squirms under Harry’s gaze. Nothing that he’s said would actually give away Louis’ plans but he’s afraid that somehow, Harry can see right through him. “But don’t you worry about that! Open this one!”

Harry immediately gets to work opening his last wrapped gift. He makes it such tedious work, Louis takes out his phone just to video it to give him shit about later. 

When he finally reveals the sleek folder, he bites his lip. Harry runs his fingers over the letters that read,  _ Let’s Take the Leap _ , and then he opens the folder.

“What’s this?” Harry looks at Louis, confusion written all over his face as he flips through the pages. “It’s just blank sheet music.”

“Well…” Louis trails off just to build the moment. Dramatic effect and all that. “It’s day ten, with the lords a-leaping. I figured it was time for you and I to take the leap. How do you feel about writing and producing a song together to be featured on my next album?”

“Louis!” Harry literally jumps into Louis’ lap. “Are you serious?!”

“Completely.” 

They share a kiss that says more than their words ever could. 

“This is huge.” Harry whispers. “Are...are we even allowed to do this?”

“I’ve been meeting with my lawyers and had them go over all the contracts and everything. We got the green light.”

So they spend the rest of the night laying the groundwork for what will probably be the best thing that Louis has ever been part of. 

-

The next morning, Harry wakes Louis up with a very  _ special _ birthday present that only their sheets get to see. 

“Happy Birthday to me.” Louis smirks breathlessly. 

“Seriously, Lou,” Harry looks over at him from his side of the bed. “I really hope that you have a great birthday. You’ve been so incredible to me from the moment that we decided to try again, but especially in these last several days. I really hope you know how much I love and appreciate you.”

“I know you do, darling.” Louis reaches across and brushes a curl away from Harry’s eye. “I love and appreciate you too.”

They stay in bed until they absolutely have to get up. As soon as Louis opens the door to his closet to begin getting ready for the day, he sees a huge stack of boxes. He turns to see Harry giving him a toothy grin.

“I hope you like your presents.”

“What is all this?” Louis can’t help but start chuckling. “Adidas? Reebok? How many of these boxes are there?”

“Well, I may have bought you the entire winter line from both Adidas and Reebok. I'm sort of obsessed with seeing you in that brand, especially after that live stream.”

“Harry!” Louis turns back around, excited to unbox all of it. “This is so incredible. Thank you!” 

Louis can feel Harry’s eyes on him as he sits on the floor, going through every single box. 

“If there are some that you don’t like, we can always return them.” Harry offers. 

“This is perfect, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sweet.” Harry kisses the top of Louis’ head. “I’m going to go make us some breakfast. Avocado toast for you?”

“I hate you.” Louis shoots him a halfhearted glare. 

“ _ Fooking Avocados _ .” Harry mocks, walking out of the room. 

“Never gonna live that down.” Louis mutters to himself, a smile still in place on his face. 

Just a few hours later, they’re packing up Harry’s car. Louis eyes the bag that has the box in it. 

_ Tomorrow.  _

He swears to himself, and in a moment of anxiety, he quickly looks around to make sure that Harry has gone back inside to get the bags of presents for his family. Louis takes a deep breath and unzips the bag. He’s just got to triple check that the box is still hiding in his socks. His fingers close around the box, just as Harry appears next to him. 

“Whatcha doing?”

Louis jumps so hard, he hits his head on the boot and swears loudly.

“Shit,” Louis pulls his hand free and immediately rubs the sore spot on his head. “I was just uh, making sure that I had packed enough pants - ”

“Are you okay?!” Harry’s hand reaches to cover Louis’. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” Louis starts laughing, and then they’re both laughing. 

The moment passes, but Louis really hopes that Harry didn’t catch onto how weird that was. Man, he really thought he’d be a lot sneakier than this. 

The drive to Holmes Chapel is peaceful. Harry keeps one hand on the steering wheel and the other rests comfortably on Louis’ knee. Louis actually ends up falling asleep, but who can blame him? With Harry’s low humming and his thumb tracing patternless designs on his leg, he really had no chance. 

When they get there, it’s already dark out. Louis blinks, seeing Gemma’s face staring into the passenger seat window almost makes him jump again. 

“Awww, how cute.” She says, opening the door. 

“Fuck,” Louis yelps as the cold December night invades the warm car.

“Don’t worry, losers. Pop the boot and I’ll get your bags.” 

“Hey, there’s presents back there!” Harry gets out of the car in a hurry. “Don’t look!”

“They’re wrapped, how could I look?”

Louis shakes his head. Who could have guessed that the two would be bickering as soon as they pulled up? He loves both of them so fucking much. Seeing the two of them together makes his heart ache for his own family at home. The holidays are harder than not these days, but being together makes the ache worth it. 

“Louis, dear!” Anne comes running from the front door, arms already open and waiting. 

As soon as Louis is within reach, Anne’s arms wrap around him. Louis breathes in the moment. He desperately needed a hug from a mom. His eyes sting with tears as she pats his back, almost as if she can feel how much he needed this moment. 

“I love you, Louis.” She whispers. 

“Love you too.” 

And then he pulls away. He can’t be having a full-on cry in Harry’s front yard in the middle of winter. 

“Come on inside. I set up Harry’s old room for the two of you. Like I always used to.” She gives him a knowing look, an excited glint in her eye. 

Obviously, Harry’s family knows and fully supports Louis’ plans for Christmas. 

Louis is no stranger to spending time at Harry’s house. At this point, it’s basically like a second home to him. And sharing Harry’s tiny bed from his teenage years really does bring back all the memories of when the whirlwind began. 

By the time that they make it to bed that evening, Louis realizes that he completely forgot to give Harry his gift for the eleventh day. 

“Harry,” Louis whispers into the dark. “Harry, I forgot about your gift today.”

“‘s okay.” Harry lazily turns to face Louis. “Today was about you.” 

“I know, but still.” Louis pouts. “I messed it up.” 

“You didn’t.” He pokes Louis adamantly. 

“I could give it to you now, I guess. If you want. It wasn’t really a tangible gift anyway.”

“I’d love that.” Harry shuffles closer to Louis, looking so cute with his hair disheveled and sleepy eyes. 

Louis turns to face Harry so that they’re both on their sides in his tiny little twin bed. Under the covers, Louis hooks his leg over Harry’s. 

“Today’s gift may be a little boring because it’s kind of just me making a promise to you. We’ve been through a long journey, and I’m still kind of in shock that I’m here with you right now. So I want you to know that I promise that this time around will be different. This time, there will be no outside voices getting in my head. I will put you first, always. I will come to you first, always. I am going into this with the mindset that you and I are in this  _ together _ , not me trying to take on all our issues on my own. And I will  _ pipe down  _ \- day eleven, pipers piping and all that - and listen to you. Together, you and I will make it to the end. That is my promise to you.”

Harry starts humming a tune that Louis instantly recognizes. 

_ Now you don’t have to keep on being strong for me and you  _

_ Acting like you feel no pain, you know I know you do _

_ But I can’t get inside _

_ When you’re lost in your pride _

_ But you don’t have a thing to prove  _

“I love you so much, Harry.” Louis kisses him fiercely. 

“I love you too, sweet. You don’t have a thing to prove, Louis. Those are your words and I wish you’d believe them.” 

“It’s hard,” Louis gets choked up, already feeling emotional from laying his heart on the line. And the knowledge of what tomorrow will bring. 

“Talk to me,” Harry scoots even closer. Skin to skin, face to face, heart to heart. “Tell me why you put all the blame on yourself.”

“Because the blame  _ is  _ on me.” Louis’ lip quivers. “I listened to every voice telling me that it wasn’t going to work and that - that you deserved better. And I didn’t listen to you when you b-begged me to stay. Why didn’t I listen to you?”

Louis breaks. His resolve about the entire situation crumbles to dust. He feels Harry’s arms wrap around him and he hears Harry whispering comforting words that only make his tears fall harder. 

Honestly, Louis could almost fall asleep in this moment, being emotionally spent, while Harry’s fingertips paint goosebumps on his skin. 

“Louis,” Harry finally says into the darkness. “You made all those beautiful promises earlier, now let me promise something to you. I  _ promise  _ you that I understand why everything happened the way it did. I mean, we were kids for fucks sake. And you had authority figures whispering their manipulation in your ear. Honestly, it doesn’t get more manipulative than them convincing you that I deserved better. You had the weight of the band on your shoulders from day one and it’s okay that it got too heavy to bear. You did the best you could -”

“And it wasn’t enough.” Louis interjects with a rough whisper. 

“It was enough, more than enough even. Louis, we did  _ incredible  _ things. I know that there will probably always be some part of you that feels guilt just like there will always be part of me that feels guilty for my part in it too. But you need to remember that you’re human, and we will make mistakes. This time around too, we will make mistakes. But I love you, Louis, and at the end of the day, that’s enough.” 

Louis snuggles further into Harry’s arms, mumbling an  _ okay _ against Harry’s chest. He’s drifting off to sleep, both physically and mentally exhausted. But just before he actually falls asleep, he hears a whisper. 

“I hope one day you’ll forgive yourself.” 

Louis feels some unreleased tension leave his body. Maybe today is the beginning of that forgiveness.

-

When Louis wakes up the next morning, he hears the sound of Mariah Carey being played downstairs. He smiles as he stretches his limbs, decidedly ignoring the way his body cracks like a glow stick. 

And then he sits up promptly.  _ Today is the day.  _

Fuck. 

“You okay, love?” Harry asks from across the room. 

He’s changing into the matching Christmas sweater that Anne got for all of them. Damn, Harry looks good in stripes. 

“Oh,” Louis forces a yawn. “Yeah, I just thought about um, your Christmas present.”

“Oh,” he chuckles lightly. “You looked panicked for a second there. Anyway, mum’s already been up to check on us. She’s done a full fry up.”

Louis doesn’t know if he can even eat, as the nerves make a home in the pit of his stomach. But even still, he nods and throws the duvet aside. 

Once they’ve finished breakfast, which Louis manages to eat most of, it’s time for presents. Of course, Louis got a decoy gift for Harry so as to not hint to the big gift coming later. 

He gets Harry a new iPhone and some new sound-canceling headphones for when he’s on tour and needs to zone. 

Harry gets him a set of high-quality pens, and a canvas portrait of his entire family at his mum’s wedding. Louis’ heart squeezes. 

“There’s more to come later.” Harry whispers in Louis’ ear before kissing his temple gently. 

Harry literally buys Gemma a car, which she nearly refuses after all the bus drama on Twitter. But Harry’s doe eyes win her over in the end. 

Once the gifts are unwrapped and everything is settled, they all break to do their own things. Louis finds Anne in the kitchen working on Christmas dinner. 

“Can I help?” Louis offers. 

“Of course, love.” She gestures to the bowl of washed potatoes. “You can cut those up for the mash if you’d like.” 

So he goes to work, enjoying the relaxed silence between them. Nothing but the sound of the mixer Anne is working with and the crisp noise of the knife slicing through the potatoes. 

“Are you nervous for this evening?” She asks once the mixer is on high speed, the loudness drowning out the sound of their conversation. 

“Massively.” Louis doesn’t miss a beat with the potatoes, but the nerves hit like a whirlwind all over again. 

“Well don’t be!” She ventures to the fridge. “It’s going to be the perfect evening, I know that for sure.”

“I just hope I don’t get too nervous and forget to say all the things I want to say.” 

“Honey, you will have a lifetime to say everything under the sun. As long as you get those four words in there, you’ll be fine!” 

Louis takes a deep breath - she’s right. Those really are the only words that he can’t forget. 

Just a few short hours later, the sun is starting to set and Louis’ nerves have oddly smoothed out for the most part. He’s still nervous, but he knows that no matter what happens, they will be okay. 

“Alright, Harry,” Anne pats her son’s knee, shooting Louis a quick look. “I’m going to take you for a drive. I need some mother-son time.” 

“Okay!” 

Louis squints his eyes suspiciously. Harry’s got a weird look on his face and he just seems way too on board with this drive. The tips of Louis’ fingers go cold just thinking about Harry having figured out the surprise. But he breathes through it and reminds himself that even if he did figure it out, they could laugh about it later, maybe while telling their grandkids their love story.

As soon as the car is out of sight, Gemma is springing into action. 

“Alright, future brother-in-law, let’s get this proposal scene set up, shall we?” She claps him on the back and continues towards their attic.

“Where are you going?”

“To get the lights, duh. We couldn’t exactly bring them out with Harry here.” 

“Right, of course.” Louis follows her stiffly. 

They set up the extra Christmas lights around the little wooded area and creek in Harry’s back yard, with some blankets on the ground, and a tiny speaker hidden beneath a particularly wooded area. Even with the sun having barely set, it looks incredible. Magical, even.

“I texted mum that we were finished. Just don’t trip on these extension cords on the way out.” Gemma says to him, eyes never leaving the beautiful set up before them.

“I won’t. Can’t promise the same for Harry.” 

They share a laugh until it fades off and the reality of the moment sets in. 

“I’m really glad that it’s you that he’s ended up with.” She shoves at Louis’ shoulder playfully. “You really are perfect for each other.”

“Thank you.” Louis swallows. “I know I have a lot of them, but I’m happy to be gaining another sister.”

“Should we hug? I think we should hug.”

As they hug, it really hits Louis that their families will actually become one. At one point, he really thought that this moment would never happen for them - that it was just a pipe dream. And now here it is. Goosebumps erupt across his skin. 

The sound of Anne’s car pulling in the drive reaches Louis’ ears, so he pulls away from Gemma and runs his fingers through his hair. He takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. 

“Jesus,” Gemma whispers, heading for the back door. “If you’re this shaken up now, imagine how it’ll be on your wedding day.” 

“Shut up!” Louis retorts, just in time for her to hear before the door closed behind her. 

His ears strain to hear anything until he hears feet shuffling closer, very clearly Harry trudging through the house in his boots. Louis takes another deep breath and exhales. 

This is it. 

The handle turns as Louis presses play on his phone. The classic Shania Twain song,  _ Still the One _ begins playing softly from where the speaker is hidden a few yards away. 

“Louis? I’ve been told to keep my eyes closed. Are you there?”

“Yes, love.” Louis takes Harry’s hand. “C’mon, I’ve got you.” 

Harry follows wordlessly. Instant, no questions asked. God, Louis fucking loves him. 

He leads him down the yard, to where everything has been set up. It’s dark now, so the glow of the lights is significant, yet still soft. Louis takes both of Harry’s hands in his and leads them to rest around his neck, his own hands landing on Harry’s hips. 

Louis rests his forehead on Harry’s, and whispers, “Open your eyes.”

The first thing that strikes Louis is the green of Harry’s eyes with the soft glow of the lights reflected in them. Louis’ heart is beating rapidly, but the urgent nervousness is gone. He’s safe here, with Harry. 

“This is beautiful, Lou.” Harry’s arms tighten around Louis’ neck, the two settling into a slow dance rhythm. “I...I don’t even have words.” 

The chorus of the song plays while they both wordlessly take in the moment.

_ You’re still the one I run to _

_ The one that I belong to _

_ You’re still the one I want for life _

_ You’re still the one that I love _

_ The only one I dream of  _

_ You’re still I kiss goodnight _

_ You’re still the one _

“Harry,” Louis says with a finality. 

He had wanted to maybe lay on the blankets and ask him while they’re looking at the stars. Maybe say something cute about Harry being the only star in his sky. But his eyes lock on Harry’s and he knows that it’s time. Louis kisses him, just to center himself and remind himself that Harry is his home. 

“Harry,” Louis says again. “You were only sixteen when I met you. I was just a kid then too, but even then, I knew from the moment we met that you were the one for me. I still remember the day that you kissed me for the first time, and I swear I could feel it for hours afterward. And I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to love you. It’s been the honor of my lifetime.”

Harry’s eyes are watering, and by the look in his eyes, he knows what’s coming next. 

“You bring out the best version of me.” Louis continues, looking firmly into Harry’s eyes. “You are my home base. Last night you said that our love is enough and I fully believe that. The world around us may change but our love is the one constant. These twelve days, I’ve been showing you every piece of my heart, and it definitely feels like there are twelve drummers drumming in my heart, because it’s beating like crazy.”

Harry laughs, the smile in his cheeks causing one single tear to slide down his cheek. Louis stops the dancing and takes one step back from Harry, his hand sliding into his pocket. His fingers close around the box. 

“You are the love of my life. My soulmate, through and through. Emily Bronte once wrote, ‘he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’ So, Harry Edwards Styles,” Louis pulls the box from his pocket, drops down to one knee, and pops open the box to reveal a sparkling diamond ring. “Will you marry me?”

Harry drops to his knees, hand going into his own pocket. When he pulls out his own black box, Louis’ jaw  _ drops _ . 

“Only if you, Louis William Tomlinson, will marry me.” Harry’s half laughing, half crying. 

“Did we seriously both plan to propose?” Louis laughs, shedding a few tears of his own. 

“God, we really are soulmates aren’t we?”

Louis has to kiss him. And as soon as their lips touch, he can hear the screaming of joy from all the way inside the house. 

“Wait,” Louis pulls back, “so is that a yes?”

“Ob _ vious _ ly.” Harry says, biting back a laugh. 

“Okay, okay,” Louis gets his with a wave of excitement. “Let’s put the rings on,  _ fiancé _ .”

“Oh god,” Harry gives Louis the look, and yeah, okay, that hits different. “That has a ring to it.”

“Did you just make a pun during one of the most emotional moments of our lives?” 

“...yes…” 

Harry smiles, and Louis sees just a hint of the sixteen-year-old kid there. He hopes that he never stops seeing it. 

“You’re such a dork.” Louis laughs, kissing him one more time for good measure.

Slipping the ring on Harry’s finger is one of the most surreal moments of Louis’ life. The ring slides into place like it was always meant to be there. Harry’s ring fits his style perfectly, with a wider, gold and silver band, and a 14 karat diamond. 

And as Harry slides the ring onto Louis’ finger, Louis can’t help but admire his own ring. There’s a thin line of diamond around the circumference of it. The ring is also silver and gold, pretty much matching the ring that Louis got for Harry. 

“Did you go to Edith to get your ring?” Louis asks, as a thought suddenly pops into his mind.

“Yeah.” Harry slips their ringed fingers together, recognizing why Louis had asked. “She is sneaky. She convinced me to go with that ring, probably just so we could match.”

“Wow.” He’s honestly speechless. 

“Wait so that means that my mum knew that we both were planning on proposing tonight!”

“She’s the truest sneak.” Louis nods, glancing towards the house. 

He laughs when he sees that Anne and Gemma are not even trying to hide the fact that they’re watching them. Gemma even has her phone out, very obviously recording the whole scene. She’ll probably give them so much shit for this for a long time. But honestly, Louis wouldn’t have it any other way. 

-

“Are you sure you lads don’t want to just kip here another night?” Anne asks them, as they’re loading their bags into the boot of Harry’s car.

“I’d love to, mum,” Harry says, still arranging everything in his car. “But Lou and I’ve got to get back.”

“I suppose I can let you go.” She’s smiling in such a way that Louis can see exactly where Harry gets all of his features from. “But don’t be strangers, okay? And please let me know if you need any help planning  _ your wedding _ ! Oh, I can’t believe it’s finally happened.” 

“Yeah,” Gemma chimes in. “I was beginning to think I’d have to wait for hell to freeze over for you two to get hitched.”

“Well, we kind of did have to wait for hell to freeze over.” Louis says.

They all knew that Louis was referring to the shit that they were forced through with their shitty ass management. A moment of silence passes between them as the two of them get into the car.

“They really did put you through hell, but you made it out the other side.” Gemma offers a smile, squeezing Harry’s shoulder through the open window. “All jokes aside, if you guys can make it through that, you can make it through anything.”

“And Louis,” Anne leans in to say, “Welcome to the family, officially.”

-

As soon as they’re in the door, their bags are dropped on the floor and Harry is on him. 

Harry shoves him against the wall, right there in the foyer. Honestly, this was probably the main reason why they had wanted to make it home tonight - even though neither of them had actually talked about it. 

“Babe,” Louis kisses Harry’s neck softly. “We have all night.”

“And I intend to use every minute of it.” Harry’s eyes are wild, yet soft. 

Louis attaches his lips to Harry’s neck, with just enough force to drive Harry wild. It only takes a moment or two before Harry is whining, his body crashing into Louis’. 

They may not be the same height, but their bodies line up perfectly. Harry slots a thigh between Louis’ thighs, applying just enough pressure to elicit a delicious moan from Louis’ lips. 

Louis bites at Harry’s neck, and then pulls off. His lips find Harry’s without even trying. He wraps his arms around Harry’s neck, letting his fingers tangle in the hair at the base of Harry’s scalp. 

“So good,” Harry mumbles against Louis’ lips and he pushes against Louis. 

Louis feels the exact moment that their cocks line up perfectly. He throws his head back, completely ignoring how hard his head hits the wall. Harry instantly takes advantage of the expanse of Louis’ exposed neck. 

As soon as Harry’s lips touch Louis’ neck, goosebumps erupt over every inch of his skin. He sucks a harsh bruise there that has Louis’ dick twitching, now practically straining against the material of his pants. 

Harry steps so that both of his legs are now between Louis’ thighs. Louis almost tells him that he’s gonna fall if they continue like this, but then he feels Harry’s hands travel down his body, going to grip the underside of Louis’ thighs. 

Harry’s lips ghost up from Louis’ neck, tracing all the way until they’re pressed right up against his ear. 

“Hold on.” Harry whispers, his breath tickling Louis’ ear in the hottest way possible. 

“Wait are you sure -”

Harry lifts Louis away from the wall, effectively silencing any other protests he had. He carries him so effortlessly, it’s both incredibly endearing and incredibly hot. 

“You know,” Louis says, biting Harry’s earlobe. “Ten years ago, I jumped into your arms having barely even known you. Now look at us.” 

“Lou,” Harry stops, just to kiss him. “If you want me to make it to our bed, you’re going to have to stop saying things that make me want to ravish you right the fuck now.” 

Louis giggles, having known exactly what he was doing when he said that. Riling Harry up is one of his favorite things in the world - there are too many of their interviews together to prove that. 

They make it to the bed, and Harry drops Louis on their mattress, only pulling back enough to pull both of their shirts off. He literally just shoves Louis up towards their headboard, maneuvering Louis exactly how he wants him. Louis goes pliant, letting Harry do what he pleases with his body. He’d never admit it to another soul, but he  _ loves  _ when Harry manhandles him. 

They savor the moment, nothing but their lips fitting against each other, and the skin of their chests pressed together. Louis’ pretty sure Harry can feel his heart beating. 

Louis lets his hands travel down Harry’s back, taking in everything he feels on the way down. Every perfect imperfection makes his heart swell with even more love for this boy above him. 

When the tips of Louis’ fingers inch underneath the waistband of Harry’s pants, Harry grinds down against him, but just enough to tease. 

In a split second, Louis flips them over so that Harry is now underneath him, cased in by his legs. He smirks down at the surprised look on Harry’s face. 

Louis thrusts against Harry, making his movements slow and calculated. When their cocks line up again, he feels the muscles in Harry’s thigh twitch. 

“Fuck,” Harry’s hands fit themselves around Louis’ arse, gripping just enough to have him biting his lip. 

Louis works his hips slow, yet torturously good. And it doesn’t take long before the rest of their clothes find themselves shoved at the end of their bed. 

Seeing Harry naked is such a heavenly moment, no matter how many times he’s seen it. He can’t believe that this beautiful boy is really his. 

“How do you want it?” Louis asks, extenuating his word with a squeeze around his cock. 

“Fuck me,” Harry whispers, eyes blissfully shut. “Please, Lou.” 

Louis kisses him in response. And then he slowly descends down Harry’s body, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses. 

Harry’s cock is  _ straining  _ against his stomach. Louis presses a kiss to the head, and then pulls away. He looks up just in time to see Harry pout, but soon after a look of breathless recognition follows. 

“Turn over.” Louis kisses the words into his inner thigh. 

Harry turns over, practically scrambling to do so. Louis fits a hand around himself, just to provide a little relief. And then he’s spreading Harry apart to reveal his most intimate place. 

Louis blows a cool breath over Harry’s hole, just to watch it flutter. He presses kisses over his cheeks, purposefully teasing him. 

“Lou,” Harry’s pleading voice breaks the last of Louis’ resolve. 

He flattens his tongue and drags it over Harry’s hole. The sound that comes out of Harry’s mouth is sinful. He laps at his hole, diving in with no regard. 

He eats his arse like it’s Christmas dinner, because it kind of is. 

Once he’s so wet that Louis’ cheeks are almost dripping, Louis pulls back. Harry makes a vague noise of protest, but it dies in his throat when he realizes that Louis only pulled away to grab the lube. 

The one that Louis grabs ends up being the one that causes the tingles, as Harry says. Fuck, this is about to be good. 

Louis’ first finger slides in with practically no resistance. 

“Ah,” Harry breathes, his hair already matting to his forehead. “The tingly lube.”

Louis chuckles to himself and presses a kiss to Harry’s lower back.

“Good?” He asks, because communication is always important. 

“Two,” Harry’s hips are moving minutely, his fist balling up in the sheets like he’s holding himself back from just fucking himself on Louis’ finger. 

Louis pulls his finger away to add more lube and line up two at his hole. He sees a drop of precome fall from the tip of Harry’s cock as his two fingers push past the first ring of muscle. 

“Lou,” Harry whines so quietly that Louis almost doesn’t hear it. 

“Yes, love?” 

“I don’t know, I just - “

Harry cuts himself off when Louis’ pointed fingers find his prostate. His hips jump, suddenly too far gone to care about holding himself back. He bears his hips down on Louis’ fingers, and for just a few moments, Louis just watches. His hand finds his own cock, for just a few pulls. 

“Ready now.” Harry pulls himself away from Louis before he can even respond. He turns back onto his back and spreads his legs for Louis. 

Louis smiles fondly at his boy. As he covers his cock with lube, he thinks back to the first time he saw Harry all flushed and ready underneath him, and he wonders what it’ll be like to see this vision for a lifetime. 

Louis lines himself up with Harry’s hole and pushes in just enough for the head to pop in. The tight heat around him is almost suffocatingly good. He leans down and intertwines the fingers of both of their hands, acutely aware of the new metal there. 

“You ready, fiancé?” Louis asks, looking into his green eyes and finding nothing but love there. 

“Yes, fiancé.” He responds, attaching their lips. 

Louis thrusts in the rest of the way, slow but steady. He can already tell that this won’t last nearly as long as he’d like. But, he supposes that they have plenty of time for a round two - a lifetime of time. 

Harry pulls away from the kiss to let out a low moan, and Louis hooks one of Harry’s legs over his shoulder, knowing that’s the angle that Harry likes best. 

The next thrust is more firm, and Harry digs his nails into Louis’ hand.

“I won’t last long,” Louis admits, feeling his cheeks get warm. 

“Me either. The thought of you being my husband has me wildly on edge.” 

“Then I guess we should make it count, huh?” Louis says with a smirk. 

And then he goes all out. He positions his legs to get as best leverage as he can, and pounds into Harry. The sounds of skin on skin fill the room, but Louis can’t hear anything other than the litany of moans and whimpers that Harry is letting out. 

“ _ Oh god, Louis, right there _ ,” he lets out, breathlessly beautiful. 

Louis fully leans down on Harry so that his cock gets friction between the skin of their bellies. He’s so wet and drippy, in a way that Louis has never seen before. 

“I’m gonna come,” Harry opens his eyes suddenly, looking almost panicked. Louis pauses. 

“Are you okay? Do you want to stop?”

“No, no,” Harry looks so emotional. “I need, I need you to hold me. Don’t stop, just need to be in your arms.” 

Louis readjusts so that they are fully pressed together, Harry securely in his arms. And then he’s thrusting again, feeling Harry’s tears in his neck. Louis’ eyes start to fill too, because yeah, this is a lot. 

“It’s okay, love.” Louis says, never missing a beat. 

“Louis,” Harry sniffles,  _ so close _ .

“It’s okay,” Louis feels his own tears fall from his cheeks and drop onto Harry. “Me too, baby. Let go, I’ve got you. I love you.”

And those three words push Harry right over the edge, letting out a whimper so small it’s almost not audible. His whole body tenses, squeezing around Louis’ cock and pulling his own orgasm to the surface. 

For a moment, everything is still. That was the most beautiful sex that they’ve ever had - by far. 

“Wow.” Harry murmurs, eyes half-lidded already. 

“Wow,” Louis agrees. “I love you.”

“I love you.” 

Louis cleans them both up before taking Harry in his arms. 

“It’s never been  _ that _ good.” Louis says, kissing at Harry’s sweaty hairline. 

“Well we’ve never had sex as fiancés before. Just imagine how good it’ll be as husbands.” 

Damn, Louis can hardly wait. 

-


End file.
